I don’t know if Google docs count as a ‘source file’. It’s clearly the source. Is it a file? I guess everything’s a file if you go by the UNIX definition, so ‘close enough’?

Licensing riddles aside, it looks great, and it’s nice seeing a fast-paced intro that gets straight into what the game’s about.

That’s never been the case with any of the open source movement. If someone says their project is open source, then they give out files which are not the source, we would normally say that’s not open source. We don’t ask Microsoft if they feel that X, Y, and Z are ‘the core components’ of VSCodium. It’s just not open source.

Providing text is good, and you might say the text files are ‘open source’, if they have a licence which allows modifications and so on. But you can’t make closed-source pdfs out of them, and say ‘this has text, which is open source, so I feel like it’s open source’.

I get that it seems like a small distinction to some, but it’s been an important distinction since the inception of the open source movement, and without it, we won’t be able to tell open source projects from projects that have open components which people ‘feel’ are core.

“Open source” [files] means the source of the pdf. If the source files aren’t available with the download, it’s not open source.

I hope it doesn’t come across as a small point, as it’s a pretty big deal to me. I’ve spent years looking about for others doing open source RPGs, but most people using the word ‘open source’ mean something like ‘copying this pdf is okay’, which makes it very difficult to find open source RPGs under all the false signals.

Are the source files included in the drivethrurpg link, or somewhere else?

it’s now on my list!

Glad to hear it!

s there a simple way to just download a bunch of pdfs

Yes. Each book’s repository comes with a download link.

• Metabind: a collection of the core rules, players’ book, and GM’s book, all stuffed into one. Getting the books separately is better if you’re printing, but a single pdf works better for searching.
• Missions in Maitavale - a full campaign setting and long story.
• Goblin hole module, the intro module.
• Goblin Horde, another goblin-filled introduction module, but this one is in the style of more traditional fantasy RPGs.

But fair warning: despite the hyperlinks, the books all prioritise printing. Reading two-column bright-white pdfs can give you a headache.

I couldn’t make the downloads work in my phone

Thanks for letting me know!

It appears that (some parts of?) this is available in English and in German,

We only have the tiny core rules translated right now, and the character sheet.

Would this be suited to playing with kids, too?

The system is just 2D6 + Attribute + Skill [ + Equipment sometimes ]. Should be fine for kids who are okay with small sums.

The books have one or two spots of harsh language.

I’ve just playtested and released a oneshot module. If you have any questions about running it, let me know!

much obliged!

Ye gods, I finished this video and now I’m going grey.

Worth it though.

I’m likely starting a game next month, so if you have any ideas, shoot them over. There’s an issue boards on Gitlab.

You can definitely port Requiem ideas with the files, though if you want 100% actual Requiem, you’re better off remaking it from scratch (took me 3 months though, so it’s not done lightly). And I’ve kept a branch called ‘original’ which has the original, unmodified books, or as close as I could make in case anyone wants to start from there (go to source files, click ‘branch’, then click ‘original’).

After you mentioned Malkavians, I started thinking about better derangement rules. I’ve just pushed a new copy up 5 minutes ago (same link, but the Derangement rules have been changed).

I think it’d work, though I added a little more in terms of stakes. Mostly, the stakes are backgrounds, so characters can steal or destroy others’ backgrounds.

Also, it annoyed me that the backgrounds don’t have a mechanic, so they’re gained and lost by Storyteller fiat.

There’s a short overview as a primer.

If that sounds like what you’re after, I’ve recreated the original books, and modified them, so I don’t have to reference a Google doc for house rules:

• Dark Ages
• Modern
• Source files

I feel like the Malkavians need mechanical solutions for these problems.

On derangements: something like ‘you go mad when it’s a full moon’ is vague. I feel like it’d be easier with a just any system, for example ‘renew all Willpower during a full moon, but lose one each scene thereafter’, which encourages the player to try just about anything during that night.

Twisting the mechanics also means the player doesn’t lose agency by thinking ‘oh well, time to act crazy I guess’.

On the combat problem: I feel like this is a symptom of a larger problem with the system. Combat has a system - it has levers everywhere which do things. Nothing else does, and you can’t push buttons which aren’t there.

I’ve solved the second problem by replacing Combat rules with general ‘Contest’ rules – a single system for Extended and Resisted actions, which works for Investigations, competing companies, or snide remarks at Elysium…and sword fights, if you must.

I continuously hear from ex-Twitter people that they had some thousands of followers, but that engagement on Mastodon is much higher on a per-follower basis.

Maybe Twitter just had more bots? Like, a lot more.

It’s not like anyone’s checked those 40,000 accounts.

It’s a great book.

Oh - and also they have zero ‘phatic’ communication. Everything means something. So you can’t say ‘good night’, unless you are saying ‘this night is good for dancing’…or for something else. It’s precise, representative statements, or gtfo. Instead, they remind people ‘Don’t Sleep, [because] there are snakes’.

It reminds me of Bilbo’s ‘Good morning!’, with Gandalf.

The apps are certainly in need of all the help they can get. I have Lemur and Jerboa, and they’re both janky as all heck.

Probably Don’t Sleep, There are Snakes. It’s the story of a Christian missionary who goes to convert the Piraha people. Unfortunately, their language stamps empiricism into the verb, so every single sentence has to come with how you learnt the information.

• Learning by experience (“I saw a jaguar”)
• Learning by deduction (“There’s jaguar poops, and tracks, so a jaguar was here”)
• Learning by another’s experience (“Someone said she saw a jaguar”)

Gossip is grammatically impossible.

So he starts translating the Bible, but they keep trying to clarify what he means.

What colour was Jesus? Black or white?

But he never met Jesus.

Okay, so when your dad met Jesus…

But his dad never met Jesus, so the translation cannot work.

The book goes over how they craft, their attitudes towards sleep (it’s a vice - just don’t), the way they think about time.

Eventually, Dan left an atheist. In the end, they converted the missionary through grammar.

How do you write your own original cultures? Is there a better way than carefully laundering things you’ve stolen from real human societies?

I wish more writers would steal. A lot of fantasy races look like pretty generic, bland, cultures. Reading Anthropology books has shown me cultures far stranger than any of the fantasy races.

Things I’ve “stolen”:

• Languages can be whistled coherently, like entire sentences, communicated only through whistling. The sound travels further in some locations.
• Fire placement in caves is a matter of life or death.
• You don’t need words for ‘good’ or ‘bad’, for a language to function, but once you meet a culture which doesn’t have those words, it’s extremely difficult to communicate (and hilarity often ensues).